Hello everyone!
I've been having another go at the cars since the most recent patch/hotfix. Now we can finally use the move/drag button to move parts around the car without them disappearing!
Some errors that are still present: When you move a block in the editor and then click undo, the block quite often "disappears". When you play the scenario however, the blocks are there again.
Another problem is that the grid "snapping" snaps to the world grid and not to the car grid. I have found a workaround for you guys! A block is 3.75x3.75x3.75 units big, so place the chassis on a multiple of 3.75 in all directions and the chassis is on grid Be sure to set the rotations on multiples of 90! This way I've been able to place/move blocks beyond the normal allowed box, with absolute stunning results.
Feedback/suggestions:
Therefor, my first suggestion is to actually either change the box we can work in and make it more forgiving, or make the suspension sit way lower. I'll show you some examples why I think the current cars are riding too high:
The front truck is made "legit" without moving parts around, and can be made like this in survival as well. I couldn't even make the front bumper the way I wanted unfortunately. The truck in the back is made using the movement of parts in the editor. Some parts are actually clipped into the chassis, and the front bumper is 2 blocks below where you can normally build and even touches the ground.
When actually testing the trucks you see that the second truck has a far better looking ride height. The gaps between the fenders and the weels look good. Obstacle clearance is compromised but not by much. Players can decide whether they want to trade obstacle clearance for looks I intended this truck to be more of a normal on-road model, so if you have a road structure you should use this truck! The V3S on the other hand has a higher bumper (but would still benefit from lowering the entire cabin etc.!) and is more capable off road.
I'll show you another example of what can be done with this technique with a sports car:
First off in the editor: The front fenders look very nice, but the rear ones are too low. I could place the same ones as used on the front, but then on the rear. Also notice how I clipped a 1x2 slope into 2 1x1 slopes to create a more flowing car body.
Here you can see that the front fender gets more space, but still looks quite good. The rear fender looks like a nice fit! Again the seats and engine are clipped into the chassis (2 ylandium engines on their sides), and the blocks on the side and front are next to the chassis where you normally can't even build. My suggestion is therefor to allow us to increase the overall car size, at least 1 block (but for the truck preferrably 2) down of the chassis or have the suspension sit way lower, so we have to build the fenders around them ourselves. This will greatly increase the creativity/possibilities as they feel rather limited. And with the way the editor works now we can avoid the limits anyway, however we can't apply this in survival.
Another "error" I've found is that the large/truck chassis is tilting backwards:
I believe this has to do with the rear axle being 1 block more to the center of the chassis/center of mass, while having the same spring rate. The force on the rear axle is bigger due to the bigger leverage ofcourse, so the spring rate should be higher or the center of mass should move.
The last "problem/suggestion" I'm facing has to do with the position of the wheels:
Right now the middle of the wheel sits under the outer edge of the car. It wouldb be nice if the wheels would fall just a tiny bit inside the chassis, so we can for example make fenders that cover the rear wheels like many old cars used to have Again, more creativity points!
If anyone has any additions to this, feel free to add them!
Adrie